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Goat Cheese with Red Cherries: It’s back and better than ever

Posted August 19, 2016 by jeni britton bauer

I first made Goat Cheese with Red Cherries ice cream back in the days when we only had our North Market shop. I would peruse the farmers’ tables outside and then end up at the cheese shop inside the building where I was first introduced to Jean Mackenzie and her amazing goat cheese made right up the road from us, near Cleveland.

I’d assemble a very simple cherry compote with a combination of fresh and dried red cherries. While these cooled, I’d heat up cream and add the goat cheese and sugar, then cool it down before freezing it in my machines. I’d strain the cherries from the sauce and layer them into the ice cream as it fell out of the machine.

We’re still making Goat Cheese with Red Cherries pretty much the same way now. But, as with all of our ice creams, we are constantly tweaking our recipes, challenging ourselves to make better ice cream today than yesterday. (Our recent re-release of Middle West Whiskey & Pecans is a great example.)

Because goat cheese is quite high in protein, it can easily become gritty when folded it into ice cream. So we’ve tweaked the entire recipe from that angle for a base that’s as creamy as a decadent cheesecake. Maybe even richer. Also, we’ve increased the amount of dried cherries in the sauce, simply because I like dried red cherries slightly more for their concentrated, but bright, red cherry flavor.

Hope you like it as much as we do around here.

Want to know my favorite way to serve it? Actually, I do this to a lot of ice creams (like Key Lime Buttermilk Frozen Yogurt). Crumble up some graham crackers and mix with a bit of salted butter, just to coat. Then sprinkle on top of the ice cream, or layer in a parfait glass. It’s like a killer cheesecake.